Apprenticeships could help solve our youth unemployment crisis, if we took them seriously

As we begin to emerge from an unprecedented economic deep freeze, the government is clearly focused on getting things moving. This is reflected in the Chancellor’s statement today, which promises a range of financial measures, including VAT cuts and revised stamp duty thresholds.

Encouragingly, Rishi Sunak has also recognised the great importance of technical education – pledging to pay employers to take on apprentices and tripling the number of traineeships in England.

As important, and hopefully as helpful, as these measures are, it’s crucial that we also look ahead to a much longer-term strategy. The post-Covid 19 world will undoubtedly have a different economic landscape, but what hasn’t changed is the fact that over 800,000 young people will be collecting exam results next month and trying to decide what to do next in an uncertain world.

We are sitting on the precipice of a huge unemployment surge, in which young people will be hit the hardest. The government recognises this, but the short-term packages of support will only go so far.

Rather than waiting for the economy to recover, as no one knows when this will happen, we have to focus on equipping our young people with the skills and knowledge they need to gain employment in an increasingly competitive world – and from a much younger age.

The traditional route of A-Levels into university is well respected and the right pathway for many. But encouraging young people to leave school and join a vocational college or take up an apprenticeship at the age of 16 is still not the norm, and is often wrongly viewed as a path for students not likely to achieve decent GCSE grades.

The welcome introduction of the Baker Clause in 2017 should have changed things – forcing schools to educate their pupils about the wide range of post-16 education options that exist, rather than just pushing in-house sixth forms. This has not been as effective as was perhaps hoped, but the time has now come when all educators – schools, colleges, university technical colleges and training providers – must work together to support young people in our very volatile economy.

This requires collaboration rather than competition. Almost ten years ago, I made the difficult decision to stop A-Level provision at our college. This decision was based on the fact that we had some excellent schools in the area, all of which provided well-established A-Level programmes with successful outcomes. Rather than compete in a race we would never win, we decided to focus on providing outstanding vocational provision, giving young people an alternative, high quality option for their education journey.

Not everyone is suited to wholly academic learning. Many learn best when applying practical skills and focusing on training for a specific career in a field that interests them. We recognised early on that the key to success is ensuring people have the opportunity to learn in the way that suits them, rather than applying the mantra of one size fits all, which it clearly doesn’t.

Young people have never been so anxious about their future. In a Teacher Tapp Poll for the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), 98 per cent of the 5,000 teachers surveyed said that their students are “…anxious and uncertain about their future choices since lockdown”.

This is a hugely worrying statistic and must be addressed. We need to give young people confidence that the choices they are making in terms of their education are the right ones, and will lead them to the opportunity and success they hope for.

But for this to be the case, achieving qualifications is not enough. In a competitive environment, young people must be equipped with employability skills and an understanding of the job market. Teachers clearly recognise this, with 74 per cent in the CEC’s poll saying that these employability skills are the most important way to improve pupils’ career prospects.

It’s encouraging that teachers are aware of this, but we need a much wider acceptance of employer-led, career-focused education and a greater understanding that this is not a second-rate route to A Levels.

London South East Colleges has spent many years developing a “Career Advantage” scheme in partnership with a range of employers. Every student takes part, with it running alongside their study programme. It focuses on employability skills, citizenship, social enterprise, employer networking and, perhaps most importantly, it gives young people a voice and the confidence to pursue their career ambitions.

Covid-19 will absolutely change the job landscape, certainly in the short term, but new opportunities will be emerging in a range of new industries, which young people may not even know about without the right information, advice and guidance. Qualifications will always be crucial but how you gain them is key, as well as having the ability to apply acquired knowledge to real-life workplaces.

The government is right to focus on providing new traineeships and apprenticeships to help young people into work – there is a clear benefit to earning while you learn. Now, as a country, we must all get behind this technical education drive and put skills at the heart of the curriculum to drive the economy forward and secure the future for our next generation.

Dr Sam Parrett OBE is principal and CEO, London South East Colleges